America's 250th anniversary should have been a moment every American celebrated together.
Democrats decided to play politics with a concert honoring the nation's founding instead.
And Bill Maher said the quiet part out loud about Democrats and their patriotism.
Bill Maher on Real Time: Democrats Who Skipped Freedom 250 Concert Don't Love America
On Real Time with Bill Maher, the HBO host unloaded on the performers who abandoned the Great American State Fair lineup after discovering the event was tied to President Trump's Freedom 250 organization.
Freedom 250 was created by Trump executive order to coordinate America's semiquincentennial celebrations.
The centerpiece is the Great American State Fair – a 16-day event on the National Mall running June 25 through July 10.
When organizers announced the concert lineup on May 27, nine acts were on the bill.
Within days, six of them were gone – Martina McBride, Bret Michaels, The Commodores, Morris Day and the Time, Young MC, and Milli Vanilli all walked.
"They all pulled out," Maher told his panel, which included Democrat Senator Chris Murphy and former Obama National Security Advisor Susan Rice.
"This is a question about what looks best for the Democrats, because I don't think that looks good."
Then he went further.
"It looks like you are just what people say about you, you don't really love America. It looks like you think Trump is more important than the country itself."
Maher didn't stop there.
"Now it's just a big MAGA rally, this whole thing," he said. "Now it's Trump and Lee Greenwood. Wouldn't it have been better to play this gig? Can't we all just celebrate America itself and leave Trump out of it?"
Even Bill Maher couldn't defend it.
Six Artists Pulled Out of the Great American State Fair and Handed Trump a Win
Martina McBride went first.
"I was presented with an opportunity to perform at a nonpartisan event but that turned out to be misleading," she wrote on Instagram.
Poison frontman Bret Michaels – a man who won The Celebrity Apprentice and had publicly praised Trump – said the event had become something he never signed up for.
"Unfortunately, what was presented to us as a celebration of our country has evolved into something much more divisive than what I agreed to be a part of," he wrote on Instagram, adding that threats had come in targeting him and his crew over their potential participation.
Morris Day and the Time, Young MC, The Commodores, and Milli Vanilli followed them out the door.
Young MC called it a "bait-and-switch."
Freedom 250 held firm.
The organization said it remained nonpartisan and had invited all 50 governors to participate.
Trump responded on Truth Social, named Lee Greenwood to open the ceremony with "God Bless the U.S.A.," and announced he would personally headline opening night on June 24.
Trump also fired back at the departed acts directly.
"We don't want singers with no talent, but big fees to put you to sleep," he wrote. "We've told them all to stay home."
Democrats Have Been Boycotting America Since 2017
This is not the first time the Left handed Trump a patriotism argument on a silver platter.
In January 2017, at least 55 Democrat lawmakers boycotted Trump's inauguration – a ceremony that has served as a nonpartisan celebration of the American republic since George Washington.
Democrats turned an institution older than most nations into a protest.
Now, nine years later, they are doing it again.
The target this time is not a political ceremony – it is America's own birthday.
The Left has spent a decade treating every American institution as a MAGA prop the moment Trump touches it.
The inauguration. The National Anthem. The flag. The Pledge of Allegiance. And now the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence itself.
When you refuse to show up to America's birthday party, you are not making a statement about Trump.
You are making a statement about America.
The conservatives who grew up dancing to "Brick House" and "Nightshift" just watched that band announce America's 250th birthday is not worth their time – because a president they do not like will be there.
Bill Maher had to be the one to call it out.
That is how far gone the Left is.
Sources:
- Mark Tanos, "Bill Maher Says Artists Pulling Out Of 'America 250' Makes It Look Like Democrats 'Don't Really Love America'," Daily Caller, June 7, 2026.
- "Bill Maher Rips Artists For Pulling Out Of America 250 Concerts," Daily Wire, June 7, 2026.
- Bill Maher, "Bill Maher Bashes Acts Like 'C Plus C Music Factory' For Dumping Trump 250 Event," Real Time with Bill Maher, HBO, June 5, 2026, via Mediaite.
- "Trump set to kick off America 250 celebration after artists pull out," Fox News, June 2026.
- "Performers keep dropping out of the Trump-linked Freedom 250 concert series," Axios, May 29, 2026.